The act or ceremony of investing a clergyman with the spiritual part of a benefice, by which the care of souls is committed to his charge

.

Blackstone.

2.

That which instituted or established

; as: (a)

Established order, method, or custom; enactment; ordinance; permanent form of law or polity.

The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions.
Shak.

(b)

An established or organized society or corporation; an establishment, especially of a public character, or affecting a community; a foundation; as, a literary institution; a charitable institution; also, a building or the buildings occupied or used by such organization; as, the Smithsonian Institution

. (c)

Anything forming a characteristic and persistent feature in social or national life or habits

.

We ordered a lunch (the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be ready against our return.
Hawthorne.

3.

That which institutes or instructs; a textbook; a system of elements or rules; an institute.

[Obs.]

There is another manuscript, of above three hundred years old, . . . being an institution of physic.
Evelyn.